A Delta Air Lines passenger felt abandoned at the gate during the carrier’s meltdown over the weekend. They appear to be delayed with no staff anywhere. So he takes matters into his own hands – using the gate PA handset to summon help:
“Delta associates that aren’t paying attention, please come to 30B.”
He repeatedly asks Delta staff to come to 30B because “you have a customer waiting.” “Delta, Delta, is anybody working?” At least he’s not yelling at an actual employee, not trying to open a jet bridge door, and not threatening anyone.
That is one creative way to get some help. I wonder if it backfired though. If I worked for Delta I’d just laugh it off. pic.twitter.com/hvChpc29KQ
— Suzee Q (@SusieM414141) May 2, 2026
Delta of course has been having several rough days operationally. 30B suggests to me that this may be LAX, and I’ve flown Delta from there a several times recently but it doesn’t match my recollection of the gate area. What do you think?
Grabbing the PA and using it as a passenger is generally dumb, but I feel for him. The airline’s operation isn’t operating, and there’s no one to help. Passengers do this all the time, too.
In the fall, passengers were stranded at Chicago O’Hare. Customer service desks were empty, since American had stopped staffing those. And one passenger grabbed the PA and announced, “Terminal K… please send somebody here. You can’t be that inept.”
A couple of years ago a late-arriving passenger commandeered the PA in New Orleans to demand that the gate be re-opened. That customer wasn’t dealing with disservice or abandonment – they were trying to get onto a flight after boarding had closed.
@kieraadavisss Never a dull moment when traveling #delta #neworleans #airport ♬ original sound – Kiera
And after a Spirit Atlanta – Detroit five hour delay where gate agents shut the boarding door to block rowdy passengers, one passenger took control of the PA to call for a supervisor. Pro wrestler Matt Riddle grabbed a gate microphone during a delay at New York JFK and shouted about when the plane would leave.
It’s more likely to get a law enforcement response than better customer service, but there’s also a decent chance there’s no one around to report it. And it makes the passenger feel like they’re doing something in a situation where they otherwise have no control.
Typical for this ‘airline’ that just keeps failing. New rankings are out and they fell from 1st to 6th in reliability also. With a massive meltdown coming, as there is no end in sight to their horrid IT and planning, one suspects they will keep losing money as they did first quarter. Last week, their own hometown newspaper did a great piece on their struggles. The hits keep coming in ATL sadly…
That was a PREMIUM Delta Air Lines customer focused public address announcement.
Who knew? American Airlines is improving and Delta is declining.
While it’s frustrating is this worth being taken off the flight, denied travel and having the cops come to escort you off the airport property? Depending how far the authorities wanted to take this he could have been trespassed from the airport. And there’s not another airport at New Orleans.
I’m extremely excited to get the optimized Spirit Airlines experience on “premium” Delta Airlines.
Delta really needs to step up with its BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) offerings. I mean, Delta has corporate travel office employer-paid or hopelessly wealthy travel at the pointy end, and then there’s the out-of-pocket leisure travel for the rest of us.
I see that all the metal, that is, all the old Spirit aircraft, are headed to be recycled (repurposed) to capitalist-friendly Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the tech-savvy travelers are searching the dark web for cheap post-Spirit opportunities.
I’m also looking at JetBlue options. I flew JetBlue once: I timely got from Point A to Point B; but, the service was amatuerish. And JetBlue routes don’t jive with my life.
Is Amtrak really the best alternative travel mode?